My father, William Tipler, known as Bill, who has died aged 95, was an engineer who served at Bletchley Park during the second world war before going on to a long career with Shell Oil.
He was born the fifth of six children in Watford, to William Tipler, a teacher (later headteacher), and Grace (nee Morton). He excelled academically, attending Watford grammar school for boys and gaining an exhibition to Queens’ College, Cambridge to read mathematics. Due to the war, he opted to complete his degree in two years, graduating with a first in 1943. He represented Queens’ at chess, and was noted for his reckless attacking.
He joined the RAF, wanting to be a navigator, but the demand was for pilots, for which he showed no aptitude (crashing one training plane). So his military service was notable only for his winning large amounts playing pontoon and working out rotas for his CO, who found these difficult and turned a blind eye to Bill having every weekend off to visit my mother, Betty. They married in 1944.
Wanting to do something meaningful in the war, he used his Cambridge tutor’s contacts to gain a transfer to Bletchley Park, where he worked on German teleprinter cyphers. With other surviving staff, he received the Bletchley Park medal in 2009.
After Bletchley, he briefly taught mathematics in Norwich before joining Shell in 1946. He travelled widely in America and Europe, working on gas turbine technology for automobiles and ships, and developed a reputation as a prankster with his colleagues as victims.
After some disagreements with the company, Bill left Shell in 1966 with a generous settlement. The following day he was in a serious car accident with his family, losing an eye. His former colleagues provided him with a daily 100-mile round trip “taxi” service for three months to visit my mother in hospital.
He spent a year teaching at University College Swansea, then joined Perkins Diesels in Peterborough in 1967, working on projects including the possibilities of coal-fired diesel engines. After leaving in 1981, he offered himself for the Anglican priesthood, but his offer was declinged.
Retiring to Wells-next-the-Sea in Norfolk, he became warden at St Nicholas church, where he was licensed to administer communion and lead services. He and Betty enjoyed travel, particularly to the US and Australia when my sister Jane was working there. After Betty suffered a stroke he devoted himself to her care for her final five years.
He is survived by his daughters, Carolyn, Jane and Marian, and me, and by his four grandchildren, Katherine, May, Grace and Joseph.
